10 things to completely cut out from your diet

I recently discovered something new about myself – I have a quite addictive personality. What does that mean? Whenever I find myself a new interest/hobby, I become obsessed with it to the point of wanting to know everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) about it.

My most recent obsession is however a much more constructive one – clean diet! I’ve been reading sooooo much about the importance of eating clean and I want to share some of my findings with you because I honestly don’t think people realise what they’re doing to their bodies by eating so much crap. You might think you’re healthy today, but you can’t see what’s brewing inside your body.

Just as a side note, by no means am I being judgmental in this post. I was the unhealthiest of you all just a few months ago. Although I have made some drastic changes, I’m still not eating as healthy as I probably should. And I’m not trying to position myself as an expert in the field, although I might come across as such. My sister and fiance find me very irritating whenever I’m trying to ‘share my wisdom and knowledge’ about what they should and shouldn’t eat. But I’m ok with that. I just say it anyway 🙂

A bad diet plays a MASSIVE role in many really bad diseases/illnesses like cancer, heart problems/failures, strokes, diabetes and the list is endless. If you’re serious about improving your diet, below is a list of some of the things you should completely – I repeat, COMPLETELY- wipe out from your diet. As in, never, ever eat the foods below because they are super bad for you. I’m not talking about losing weight here, I just talking about eating healthy. I could add many more to that list but if you can start by wiping out the below, you’re already in a really good place.

1. Fast food
That’s a no-brainer I think. Any type of fast food (Mc Donalds, KFC, Subway, Pizza, etc) are all full of preservatives, sugar, saturated fat and sodium. Avoid fast food like plague. Even the seemingly ‘healthy’ fast foods like Subway, Red Rooster are packed with sugar and sodium. Stay away.

2. Processed meat
The World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) has completed a detailed review of more than 7,000 clinical studies covering links between diet and cancer. Bottom line: Processed meats are too dangerous for human consumption. We should stop buying and eating all processed meat products for the rest of our lives. Ham, salami, hot dogs, bacon, frozen beef patties, prosciutto, chorizo, pepperoni, etc? BAAAAAAD!!! Processed meat is cured with the use of preservatives like salt, nitrates and smoking and is believed to cause cancerous changes in cells. They are usually manufactured with a cancer-causing ingredient known as sodium nitrite. This is used as a colour fixer by meat companies to turn packaged meats a bright red color so they look fresh. Sodium nitrite also results in the formation of cancer-causing elements in the body, leading to a sharp increase in cancer risk for those who eat them. So, do yourself and your family a favour, bin all processed meat you can find in your fridge at home.

3. Any food containing a high level of preservatives
It means, anything that comes out of a jar, can or packet – canned tomato, frozen pizza or pies, pre-made dips sold in supermarkets, sliced white bread, canned soup, frozen lasagna etc etc. In a nutshell, most food we consider to be “convenient’ when we don’t have time to cook, usually contains a lot of preservatives. We all have those days where we could use an extra hour or two in the day and in this instance, personally, (on a good day) I’d rather eat boiled eggs on a piece of rye bread.

4. Stock cubes or the likes of Campbell’s ‘real’ stock
Try to make your own stock/broth. It’s not that hard and you can find some really good recipes online. The ones that you buy in supermarkets are usually full of salt and preservatives. You can even make your own stock cubes – stored in an ice cube tray in your freezer!

5. Soy sauce
The most common soy sauces sold in supermarkets and served at the majority of restaurants are made in two days or less. Here’s how they do it. If you really love your Chinese takeaway, you might want to sit down for this. Soybean meal and other corn starches are rapidly reduced to their component amino acids using a high-tech process known as “rapid hydrolysis” or “acid hydrolysis,” which involves heating defatted soy proteins with 18 percent hydrochloric acid for 8 to 12 hours, then neutralising the brew with sodium carbonate. To cut short, commercial soy sauce contain dangerous levels of chemicals. And just to state the obvious, soy sauce contains very high amounts of salt. So adieu Chinese food snif snif. You’ll be greatly missed.

7. Chips
Chips contain ZERO nutritional value. Plus you’re just eating salt, saturated fats and a lot of (toxic) food colouring! Butylhydroxytoluene, commonly known as BHT, is frequently used by the food industry to prevent rancidity in packaged baked goods and snacks, including chips. This fat-soluble chemical is also used in petroleum products, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. Need I say more?
Chips are my weakness. I love them and I can easily finish a whole big family-size packet by myself.
8. Soft drinks
Another obvious – full of sugar and caffeine. Diet soda is not an acceptable replacement. I’m not too sure what the reason is behind this. So if you do, please share. I just think artificial sweeteners but be just as bad as the sugar in a regular soft drink. They might be less caloric but bad still in my totally un-informed opinion. I might be wrong. Nevertheless, I’d still choose to steer clear of any type of soft drink.

9. Shredded cheese
I have news for you. I was shocked particularly by that one. Shredded cheese contains cellulose (wood pulp)! Yes wood pulp!! Now that can’t be good for your body right? Do we all agree on this? So apparently it’s used to keep the cheese shreds from clumping together, and can also be found in other foods as a thickener. The extra time it takes to grate a block of cheese is definitely worth it to avoid eating wood pulp.

10. Boxed cereals
Many people think cereals are healthy breakfast! They’re not! Boxed cereals are packed with sugar, synthetic vitamins that are actually treated as toxins and get eliminated by the body as quickly as possible. Moreover, cereals are highly “fake” processed foods. If you think cereals are a good breakfast options for your kids, think again.